Prince - Diamonds and Pearls (13 tracks) +Album Reviews +Used CD available for Swap

Underrated by Prince fans

Too Much Free Time | 09/15/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Diamonds and Pearls is the most listenable Prince album of the nineties so far. This album contains some of Princes best songs on any album. You'll know the great singles 'Cream', 'Diamonds and Pearls', 'Money Don't Matter 2Night' and the highlight of the album, 'Gett Off', but there are alot of lesser known gems on this album as well. 'Thunder' is an amazing start to the album and should have been a huge hit. 'Willing and Able', 'Strollin', 'Walk Don't Walk', and 'Insatiable' are all great songs. I love 'Live 4 Love', the guitar work on it is amazing. Amazon.com recognizes this disc as an essential recording and rightly so. Enjoy."

Back in form, albeit more stripped down and back to roots

Daniel J. Hamlow | Narita, Japan | 03/23/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Following the misfire of Graffiti Bridge, Prince pulled his career from the coals of doom, avoiding being labelled a legacy of the 80's, and reemerged the following year with a new band and new sound, more stripped down, lively, and natural, as if trying to get the feel of a live band rather than studio trickery, and adding hip-hop and rapper Tony B to his repertoire. Diamonds And Pearls may have yielded some radio-friendly singles, but the rest of the album's another matter altogether."Thunder" shows Prince as still a religious man, and at times reminds me of a stripped down "When Doves Cry," while "Daddy Pop" has identical instrumentations to "Cream," but with a more rapid beat than the single, and vocals from Prince and Elisa matching the beat. One of the better songs here.Add the romantic title track to another prime Prince ballad, with special vocal help from Rosie Gaines, whom Prince respected so much that he vowed never to play this song live with anyone else but her. Heraldic horns and guitars in the bridge add to the magic. While stripped down and simple, it's a far cry from sensually lush lovescapes such as "Do Me, Baby," "International Lover," and "The Beautiful Ones." That honour belongs to "Insatiable," which has a slow-dancing/bedroom tempo keyboards and percussion and Prince's crooning falsetto."Cream, sh-boogie bop!" Measured and paced percussive beats, guitar and organ riffs, and a sound that turns dark coffee into latte, "Cream" stands as a fair single."Strollin'" is a frisky musical leisure promenade sung in Prince's falsetto, with a simple message of relaxing by playing one-day hookey from responsibilities and gain that sense of feeling swell.The Steeles, whom Prince used on Graffiti Bridge, do a gospel-like power harmonies on the equally frisky "Willing And Able" a song on being confident enough to take risks, with a cards motif equating face cards with what it takes to follow one's dreamPrince still had his overt and aggressive entendres with "Gett Off," which was probably his most suggestive song since "Darling Nikki," and experimenting with grinding hip-hop motifs. "23 positions in a one-night stand?" and "something about a little box with a mirror and a tongue inside"? A song showing that if a girl's a star, he's the big dipper, and a preview to the simpler but just as explicit single from his next album.The party atmosphere of "Jughead" takes rap a step further than "House Quake" did in Sign O The Times, with Tony M taking a more prominent role than Prince. On first glance, it seems to be about a dance, but it ends with a slick, Anglo manager delivering some "wheelers and dealers" royalties sales talk to Tony, who after delivering a rant on how managers are parasites who cheat artists out of their deserved royalties, settles the score with a slug. And it continued with one of the Cavallo-Ruffalo-Fargnoli team suing Prince for defamation. "Money Don't Matter 2 Night" is one of the better songs, a lush and leisure number that weaves losing at a blackjack table, an attempt to find partners for an investment, and killing children to control the oil supply. The key thing is that one's soul is more important than money. The musical motifs of this would be revisited in "Sweet Baby" on his Symbol album."Push" is a song out of LoveSexy that has been given hip-hop arms and legs, rap scratches, and runs the 400 in quality time, with "Glam Slam"-like string synths, and a rap written on the sleeve verso mentioning the first seven songs in a verse.Prince's political consciousness is alive and kicking in "Live 4 Love," a story of a bomber pilot who after being hit in enemy territory, wonders just what he's fighting for, and makes his decision after coached by his guardian angel, who tells him "live 4 love, without love u don't live."Whereas the Revolution was an ethnic mix harkening to Sly and the Family Stone, most of the musicians here are black, showing Prince leaning towards a 70's style cultural nationalism stage in his career, and that would be taken to more on his Symbol album."

Some Gems, Some Duds, A Very Uneven Record

Too Much Free Time | Midwest, United States | 06/10/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"The review title pretty sums this record up. On the plus side, this album features four strong to excellent cuts: "Cream" (a rocking little boogie but one that borrows a little too obviously from T Rex's "Bang a Gong"), "Daddy Pop" (an unfairly neglected jam), "Gett Off" (an even hotter jam), and best of all, "Money Don't Matter 2 Night" (a homage to 70s Philly Soul and ranks as one of Prince's best singles). Three tracks are above average to solid: "Walk, Don't Walk" (cute and catchy, but a little obvious in its message) "Insatiable" (a solid Prince slow jam, but far from among his best) and "Diamonds and Pearls" (a huge hit, but it never did that much for me). The remaining tracks have little to recommend them. If you find this album cheap (say for less than five dollars), it is not a bad investment (being that it has four strong tracks and three solid ones). But unless you are a major Prince fan, I would not recommend paying full price."

Good without being Great

Jimmy Verona | Ga | 07/24/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This album was quite light for Prince, nothing too heavy on this album, but hey, we're all allowed to go through change.

1. Thunder: Great song with some real soul and classic harmonies, a great way to open any album.

2. Daddy Pop: A self indulgent little ditty (no surprise since this is Prince) that is pretty good, but there are better out there.

3. Diamonds and Pearls: The title track and quite a nice love song, which does a great job of creating an atmosphere, great imagery.

4. Cream: The real reason to get this album. A great hit single and a great song.

5. Strolling: A nice, but forgettable light tune.

6. Willing and Able: Same as above.

7. Get Off: Strong rocker with a ....uh...tiki feel? Hawaii anyone? Pretty cool.

8. Walk, Don't Walk: More pleasant filler.

9. Jughead: Plain awful. Early 90s rap was terrible, and Prince doesn't even do it, he hands the mike over to the NPG and let them create something that really shouldn't be on the album.

10. Money Don't Matter Tonight: A breath of fresh air. A very nice song with a nice social commentary, and also creates a great atmosphere. Good solid Prince.

11. Push: Nothing special here.

12: Insatiable: With a bit more work, it could have been really good, as it stands, there's nothing that great about it.

13: Live for Love: Prince seems to be experimenting with technology more than making music here. It's interesting, but not much else.

So you can clearly see, it's not his best work by any means, but there is some great stuff on there. Five quality tracks and three more that are nice to hear. Does this make it worth it? I think so."

Pretty good Prince album

Shelley D. Bowen | Sterling, Virginia United States | 04/16/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I wasn't too old when this album was released, so I don't know how well it was received or what singles got played alot and whatnot. I'm judging this cd based purely on the music only.
The musical styles on this album vary alot. You get power-pop, hip-hop/R&B, love ballads, and rock n' roll. Maybe Prince was experimenting or maybe he was trying to please all of his fans. Whatever the case, this album is pretty decent. I'll rate the songs as follows:
1. Thunder- 5/5: This song is like a rock opera with a gospel tinge to it. You can also hear a slight hip-hop influence with the backing beat. This tune is pretty catchy.
2. Daddy Pop- 4/5: This song is heavily based in hip-hop and even features some rapping. But the music is great and the refrain is pretty catchy too. It doesn't sound like classic Prince though if thats what you like.
3. Diamonds and Pearls- 5/5: This is a pretty little love ballad that makes you really pine for romance in your life.
It kind of reminds me of all those couples sitting down for champagne and making love afterwards near a fireplace.
4. Cream- 5/5: Pure R&B that coincidentally goes through my ears like a fine lotion. Its got that slight little hip-hop influence to it because you can dance to it.
5. Strollin- 4/5: This isnt a bad song; it just didnt really stand out to me. Has kind of a basic feel to it.
6. Willing and Able- 5/5: Shows some rock influence and kind of makes me bob my head.
7. Gett Off- 5/5: A major hip-hop influence here that benefits the song greatly. It's incredibly catchy and danceable.
8. Walk Dont Walk- 3/5: This song kind of bores me and I also think it's a bit corny.
9. Jughead- 3/5: The music is pretty good to this song but the rapping just totally messes it up. Prince could've at least got a cooler rapper for this song or something.
10. Money Don't Matter 2Nite- 4/5: Another R&B romantic ballad, but the title track was better than this one. That said, this really isn't a bad song; Prince has just done better.
11. Push- 3/5: An example of how rap hurt one of Prince's songs. And it's not even rap in general; it's the rapper he used. This song had great music and some good vocals but the rappers made it sound corny.
12. Insatiable- 5/5: This song is really cool. It's like a love ballad with the R&B feel, but as the song goes on it fades into a rockish vibe. The lyrics are great too.
13. Live 4 Love- 5/5: This might be my favorite song on the album. It's got the hip-hop feel to it but it incorporates funk really heavily. The chorus is infectious and there is some awesome guitar. Versatility is something I admire about Prince.I hope that review helped. I basically say: this has a mostly R&B/hip hop vibe to it. If you like that side of Prince, then you'll probably love this. Even if you dont like that side of him, there are still some great songs on here worth having."

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